Global Procurement Category Manager, Experiential Marketing

With over 200 brands sold in nearly 180 countries, we’re the world’s leading premium drinks company. Bring your passion and use your curiosity as you explore, collaborate, and innovate to build brands consumers love. Together with passionate people from all over the world, you’ll test new ideas, learn and grow, and unlock a brighter, more exciting future. Join us to create a career worth celebrating!

About the function

Our Procurement team are innovators, always seeking new ways to help our business, people and much-loved brands thrive. We’re dedicated to maximising the £12 billion+ we spend every year, building brands of premium quality, while creating sustainable value and growth. Together, we’re shaping the services, partnerships and innovations that meet our future needs. Our procurement team delivers outstanding end-to-end value across our supply chain and offers innovative supplier solutions. Together, we’re driving our 'Society 2030: Spirit of Progress' plan across suppliers and agency partners to create a more sustainable world. Wherever you choose to carve your career, we’ll support and encourage you in our inclusive culture.

About the role

Diageo’s Procurement structure is a matrix model using both Global and In Market resources and this role is a part of the Global Category team. The Global Category Manager, Experiential is a critically strategic role within the Marketing Procurement community responsible for the overall global Experiential category spend of c.$500m and sits within the wider Customer Marketing Procurement team ($1.3b). This role will lead the development of the Experiential strategy through effective business partnering and collaboration across Procurement, Marketing, Commercial, Finance, and other partner communities to maximise cost, cash, and growth.

The key responsibilities and deliverables of this role are to:

• Contribute towards Diageo’s overall $625m cost savings Accelerate target delivering productivity savings and establishing a pipeline of value for future years.
• Contribute towards Diageo’s overall $3b free cash flow target identifying and delivering cash opportunities and developing a robust cash delivery pipeline for future years.
• Maximise growth and performance by reducing areas of inefficient and ineffective spend using investment insights, data, and strategy (shape of A&P; 55/35/10).
• Collaborate effectively with all markets and global functions across Procurement, Commercial, Marketing, Effectiveness, Finance, and other stakeholder groups.
• Create best in class, transformational strategies that are executable in markets and deliver against our performance ambitions.
• Develop subject-matter expertise for Experiential and all relevant sub-categories, collecting and using external market / industry expertise and providing clear direction for the development and application of market data and insights into strategy development and sourcing.
• Lead a global community of procurement professionals across Experiential, including leading regular meetings, supporting market workstreams and priorities, and sharing best practices. This role is a leadership role in the global community.
• Adhere to and always promote the highest standards of compliance. This includes risk management processes, contract management and cost modelling / benchmarking.
• Work dynamically across categories (including but not limited to Customer A&P categories, sponsorship and influencer, staffing/indirects, production, culture) and pro-actively look for opportunities to drive further business value and strategy.
• Collaborate and/or support in the delivery of Diageo’s Society 2030 ambition.
• Lead or support sourcing activities. Ensure agency commercial terms, capabilities, and contracts are aligned with Diageo’s performance ambitions to maximise Diageo value and mitigate risk.
• Coach and develop talent across the Marketing Procurement community (global and in market).
• Ensure Diageo has leading agency ecosystems, models, and partnerships enabled by strong agency/category performance management, capabilities, JBPs, and strategy.
• Work with Finance, Data & Analytics to enhance spend analytics and A&P investment insights in line with our investment optimisation strategy.

Experience, skills & capabilities required

For this senior manager role we require extensive experience in Marketing Procurement or in Experiential Marketing e.g. events, influencer, culture, POS, BTL, creative production, customer marketing with procurement experience. Exceptional communication skills, verbal, written and presentation. Proven track record of consistent performance planning, execution, and impact. Strong analytical and financial awareness including a comprehensive understanding of the AOP requirements and financial goals & value drivers aligned to strategy and performance. Use of advanced data and analytics (cost modelling & projection) to drive best in class strategies and negotiation plans beneficial. Confidence and experience in influencing senior stakeholders and building credible business cases. Ability to build and sustain great relationships with multiple collaborators across the globe and collaborate efficiently. Demonstrated performance when both leading and working on projects with cross-functional teams, experience in implementing projects aligned to category and Procurement strategies. Track record of generating insights to influence decision-making and inform transformational opportunities.

Working With Us

Flexibility is key to our success. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you so that you’re supported to manage your wellbeing and balance your priorities from day one. Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this. We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you’ll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You’ll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, approaches, and more. Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world.